The Indian government has launched a new website to help healthcare workers and the industry supply chain effectively deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. Called ‘AarogyaPath’ (the path to recovery), the portal was launched by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) on June 12. The government says that the initiative will remove supply chain bottlenecks during the current health crisis.
As per the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, the portal will help healthcare providers tackle a number of issues, such as dependence on limited suppliers, time-consuming processes to identify good quality products, limited access to suppliers etc. It is also expected to help manufacturers and suppliers reach customers more efficiently. The beneficiaries will include pathological laboratories, medical stores, hospitals and more, said the ministry.
AarogyaPath, a web-based solution for the Healthcare Supply Chain was launched today by OSD to MoH&FW Shri Rajesh Bhushan in presence of DG CSIR. Dr.@VijayChauthiawale, Pharma Sector Expert and JS MSME Mr. Sudhir Garg were Guests of Honour #CSIRFightsCovid19 @shekhar_mande pic.twitter.com/TMKkgJ92uY
— CSIR (@CSIR_IND) June 12, 2020
According to CSIR, AarogyaPath will become the national healthcare information platform in the years to come. The platform, it said, will fill the critical gap in the last-mile care delivery. It will do so through improved affordability and availability of healthcare supplies, it claimed. The site will also create opportunities for business expansion due to an expanded array of buyers, said CSIR.
As for the portal itself, it can be accessed at AarogyaPath.in. According to the site, it is part of a larger vision to set up an information management and forecasting database platform at the national level. This will help all stakeholders better gauge demand-supply scenarios for critical items, especially during healthcare emergencies.
India is seeing a massive upsurge in coronavirus cases with every passing week. Data from the Union Health Ministry shows that the country has more than 332,000 confirmed cases, with over 9,500 deaths. On Sunday, the country recorded 11,157 new cases. The country is now one of the global COVID-19 hotspots, alongside Brazil, Russia and the US.
